As the federal government takes action to balance the budget, Canada Post, a Crown corporation, is also facing its own unique financial challenges.
Recently, the Conference Board of Canada estimated that, unless things change at Canada Post, declines in mail volumes will lead to losses of $1 billion annually by 2020.
Canada Post is exploring options to tackle this projected shortfall without relying on a taxpayer bailout, while continuing to deliver mail to 15 million addresses nationwide.
Canada Post is currently soliciting feedback from Canadians about how Canada Post should deal with its fiscal challenges.
People who are interested in sharing their feedback on the future of postal service in Canada, are encouraged to visit www.canadapost.ca , and click on the link to “What kind of postal service will you need in the future” on the top right-hand corner of the page.
This is an opportunity to provide your input into the future of Canada Post. Feedback can also be submitted by mail to the following address: The Future of Canada Post, 2701 Riverside Drive, Suite N0800, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0B1.
Canada Post is not the only federal Crown corporation under review. In order to ensure public funds are not required to bail out these corporations, the federal government is also ensuring that employee pay and benefit levels in federal Crown corporations are aligned with the rest of the federal public service.
To meet this objective, the federal budget will provide the federal government with more oversight of pay and benefit levels at federal Crown corporations. This will improve the long-term financial viability of federal Crown corporations.
Any shortfalls at federal Crown corporations are ultimately borne by the public. That is why the government has a responsibility to ensure proper oversight of pay and benefits at these federal Crown corporations.
In this regard, lessons were learned from recent cases involving provincial Crown corporations, where failure to take action resulted in provincial Crown corporation employees being given pay and benefits that were excessive and inappropriate.
For example, Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), a provincial Crown corporation, provided its employees with excessive increases in pay and benefits, especially compared to Ontario’s public service, and particularly in a time of fiscal restraint.
The province’s inaction was widely discussed in the news.
The federal government is committed to balancing the federal budget in 2015, only two short years from now. Ensuring prudent management and oversight of federal Crown corporations is one part of our economic action plan to achieve fiscal balance.
By ensuring fiscal balance, we will create the macro-economic conditions necessary for continued economic growth and job creation.
To find out more about Canada Post, visit www.canadapost.ca. To find out more about the federal government’s oversight of pay and benefits at federal Crown corporations, visit http://goo.gl/FlKUs.
I encourage you to contact me if you have any questions. You can reach me by phone at (866) 878-5556 or by email at michael.chong@parl.gc.ca.